On Saturday, I visited the last of the big cities in close proximity to Osaka: Kobe. Most of you will remember the name from the terrible earthquake that happened here in 1995, but Kobe has more to offer than just earthquake memorials.
The hard facts:
- paid 880 Yen transportation
- paid 160 Yen admission fees
- walked less than 10km (the track includes a subway ride and some GPS craziness at the beginning, so I walked definitely less than the track says)
- visited no shrines or temples for a change
1 - City Hall
The city hall is not a sight in itself, but it does have a free observation platform on the 24th floor which offers a good view over Kobe. The two pictures below are shot from two exactly opposite windows. As you can see, Kobe is really wedged in a small stretch of flat country between the sea and the mountains.
2 - Earthquake Memorial Monument
A short walk from the city hall I saw this monument commemorating the 1995 earthquake. The clock that the lady holds shows the time the earthquake struck: 5:46 am.
3 - Kobe City Museum
This museum mainly concentrates on showing how Kobe evolved in history. Besides exhibits dating from the middle ages and before, this also includes detailed explanations how the opening of Kobe port to foreign ships in 1868 affected the city.
One of the exhibits in this context is a reproduction of three rooms from a German house that originally stood in the Kobe's Kitano area. The rooms are furnished with German 19th century furniture and were really pleasant to look at. But the truly remarkable thing was the feeling I got while looking at it: I became really calm and relaxed, feeling peaceful and somehow at rest. I think it felt a little like coming home after a long journey. Funny what four weeks living in a completely different culture can do to you, right?
Another thing that I found interesting was an exhibit (I don't even remember what it was exactly) where the description said that horseback riding was introduced to Japan only in the 5th century AD. It seems that isolated cultures really do develop slower than those that are in constant interaction with others. And when I think about it, I've experienced this while playing Civilization: sometimes I'd be the only civilization on an island, happy to be able to play without disturbance from enemies (ahem... I meant other cultures). But then at some point in time, another civilization would make contact, and I would find out that they are really technologically advanced, leaving no hope for me to win the game. So I guess that's a point where Civilization really captures how the real world works.
4 - Meriken Park
After the museum, I continued to Meriken Park (apparently, this is short for "American park"...). The park is at the waterside and contains another memorial to the 1995 earthquake. As you can see in the picture, they conserved parts of the damaged sidewalk and a few streetlamps in exactly the same position that they were in right after the earthquake. Impressive what nature can do, isn't it?
5 - Nankinmachi (China Town)
From the relaxing atmospheres of the museum and the waterfront back to inner-city madness. Chinatown was really packed with people, and, of course, there were people queuing up to have their picture taken in front of the Chinese dragons you can see below.
6 - Kitano
I also walked briefly through the 19th century foreigner's quarter and visited another German house, the Rhine house. The picture shows the view to Ben's house across the street and the rest of Kobe behind it.
7 - Luminarie
Finally, I visited the Luminarie festival. This is held for two weeks every December to commemorate the recovery from the 1995 earthquake (again...). They put up huge archways that are illuminated in the dark, along with many small stalls where you can buy food and souvenirs.
They are quite well-prepared for the masses of people attending the festival: there are fences around all the greenery, stairs are converted into ramps, and lots of police officers are there to direct the people flow, especially at traffic lights (so the people moving in opposite directions don't collide in the middle of the street).
In the picture below, you can see a bell mounted below the archway. The intention behind this is that people make a small donation first, and then ring the bell. As the Japanese are really used to the whole donate-first-then-make-noise thing (I'll explain why another time), the bell was constantly ringing, creating a rather solemn atmosphere in that area.
